UK Businesses are Saving 23,000,000 Liters of Diesel Fuel a Year

This is a great idea, and I have to wonder why more companies aren’t doing this around the world:

In the UK, 37 food and beverage companies have banded together to save money and reduce emissions. The program, called “Sustainable Distribution,” isn’t just being supported by a bunch of little guys. The big dogs, including UK’s Coca Cola, Heinz, and Coors branches are getting involved.

Basically, the program amounts to a single concept: sharing transportation. This will reduce the number of trucks on the road in two ways:

1. Trucks won’t be half-full anymore – factories that are near one another can share a truck, filling it completely, which is more efficient.
2. Trucks won’t make empty trips. The factor sends stuff to the distribution center, but the reverse isn’t true. That used to mean trucks were making return trips home empty. With this program, trucks will just “fill up” at a nearby factory from another company that needs to ship products to the “home” area.

It just makes sense. This program was actually inspired by a program started in the UK in 2007, where Nabisco and United Biscuits teamed up to share trucks.

Of course, there is a down side to this. The Sustainable Distribution program means that around 800 trucks will be taken off the roads, no longer needed. That’s 800 truck drivers and lots of support staff out of jobs.

Going green is always a good job for the environment, but don’t forget that sacrifices are made to make these changes.

You can read more about this story at Food Production Daily.

Picture via sxc.hu.